Benjamin Hodges, a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has been selected as the winner of the 2005 Edward A. Frieman Prize, an annual recognition of excellence in graduate student research. The award ceremony will be held on Friday, July 22, at 3 p.m. at the Scripps Library.
The 10th recipient of the Frieman Prize, Hodges is being honored for his research paper, "Simple models of steady deep maxima in chlorophyll and biomass," which was published in the August 2004 issue of Deep Sea Research Part I. It was coauthored by Hodges' advisor, Scripps professor of oceanography Daniel Rudnick.
The Frieman Prize was established in 1996 to celebrate the 70th birthday of Scripps Institution's eighth director, Edward A. Frieman, who led Scripps from 1986 to 1996. The prize is awarded annually to a Scripps graduate student who has published an outstanding research paper in the past 12 months, as evaluated by a Scripps faculty committee.
Rudnick said that the research paper focused on the biological and physical dynamics governing the location and strength of deep chlorophyll.
"This paper is an excellent example of interdisciplinary research," he said. "Ben has taken the point of view of a physicist in creating models, with an emphasis towards simplicity, and applied them to an admittedly complicated ecological problem. Recognizing this paper with the Frieman Prize signals an appreciation for the interdisciplinary research that is a major part of Scripps Institution's future."
Hodges, who is completing his fifth year of graduate studies at Scripps, received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.